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News that Norsk Hydro has sold its stake in CIGS thin-film wannabe, Ascent Solar, for US$4 million, to another investor, TFG Radiant Investment Group, may not help the struggling firm with sorely needed cash injections. Nevertheless, it would indicate a level of ‘trust’ in the firm to help ride out the current industry-wide challenges.
For the past few weeks all anyone in the UK solar industry has been talking about is feed-in tariff cuts and unexpected deadlines. In fact, since Government announced it would be reducing the incentive rates by more than 50% for household solar installations, almighty chaos has broken out. Friends of the Earth and two solar companies recently won their case against the unforeseen December 12 cut-off point – but is this really a “victory” for the UK solar industry, or have we been plonked between a rock and a hard place?
First Solar is holding a conference call tomorrow (Wednesday, December 14, 8:00am EST) to provide financial guidance for 2012. As we noted recently, the CdTe thin film leader is set to be the first of any major PV manufacturer to give guidance for next year, after what can only be described as a ‘challenging’ year for the whole industry.
Having switched off from much, if not all, of the political aspects to the demise of Solyndra, at last we are getting some solid confirmation of the real problems Solyndra was dealing with and getting more inline with the real issue, which was technology based.
It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. Winston Churchill was referring to Russia, but his much-reused quote could just as easily apply to India’s nascent solar industry. Shrouded in secrecy, the state of play on the subcontinent is exciting as it is confusing.
It’s almost one year since the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) and rumours are beginning to fly around the UK solar industry as to what the upcoming Comprehensive Consultation on the feed-in tariff (FiT) holds. I decided it was time to investigate what people are actually saying, and to find out how much of what is being said matches the facts around budgets, pricing and deployment.
Early warning signals were emitted from Germany yesterday that suggested that under-pressure Chancellor Angela Merkel could be losing the plot. It could, however, be just the start of another campaign to pre-warn the German public that the January 2012 feed-in tariff cuts could be deeper than many anticipate.
The PV-Tech team weren’t the only ones that noticed the subdued atmosphere at EU PVSEC. Others with back-to-back meetings over the length and breadth of the show floors were some of the key financial analysts that cover the PV industry. In particular, Jesse Pichel at Jeffries raised important issues concerning the weak demand dynamics, despite continued pricing pressure.
Last Thursday, 31 of Europe’s finest football clubs, and Arsenal, entered the draw for the group stage of this season’s Champions League. Commonly regarded as the most prestigious football competition in the world, between now and next May it will be the battle ground for not just the finest footballers on the continent, but also some of the world’s leading commercial brands, including Yingli Green Energy, Q-Cells and JinkoSolar.
Polysilicon spot prices have fallen considerably over the last year as new capacity was introduced and weak demand in the first half of the year reduced demand, especially from Tier 2 and Tier 3 PV module manufacturers. There was a period of real concern from higher-cost producers as poly spot prices fell to the US$50/Kg range, with fear that they would fall further if demand didn’t pick up in Q2.
